National Atheist Party Cancels Convention Due To Lack Of Funding

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BOSTON (CBS Connecticut) — The National Atheist Party is canceling its secular convention due to a lack of funding.

Troy Boyle, the party’s president, announced on its website won’t be holding NAPCON 2012 in Boston in October because it would bankrupt the group.

“After this year’s amazing Reason Rally, and flush with our successful recruiting and a spike in donations, we decided to hold our OWN secular event. NAPCON 2012 was supposed to be our biggest and best public event; our chance to show the U.S. that we could fund and organize a large, noteworthy and impressive ‘Secular Summit’ that would attract media buzz and even more interested members and donations. The reality is that we can’t,” Boyle said in the press release. “The donations simply aren’t there and if we went ahead with the event as planned, it would bankrupt us.”

The second annual convention was supposed to consist of several speakers and musical acts over two days, as well as giving away free prizes to fellow atheists.

Boyle blames a lack of donations and sponsors, along with several prominent people backing out of the convention.

“The plain fact of the matter is that we have to cancel the event and spend more time and careful planning to make our 2013 convention a solid and better organized success,” Boyle said. “I am disappointed and disheartened, certainly, as I’m sure you all are, but I’m also committed to learning the lessons of this ‘failure to launch.’”

The party – which was founded in March 2011 – states on its website that it “is a Constitutional movement dedicated to the preservation of the Founding Fathers’ vision of a secular nation.” Officials hope to develop it into a full-fledged political party.